TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to this handout Purpose

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to this handout Purpose To inform To persuade Audience How to determine your audience Style and diction Clarity Concision Organization Chronological Deductive Inductive Available resources Books Web sites People Other

Introduction to this handout This handout in no way substitutes taking a technical writing course, but is intended to communicate some of the concepts taught in such a class to those who have not had the opportunity of taking one. This handout is a summary of some of the most important information found in most technical writing classes and texts. This is intended to be a reference to help you develop your writing style to a professional level. It is recommended that this handout be used as a starting point in making this transition. For more information on any of the topics discussed, please consult the references provided at the end of the handout. MAIN

Purpose There are two general purposes for technical writing: • To inform (reports, instructions, descriptions) • To provide the audience with factual information • To persuade (proposals, recommendations) • To convince the audience to draw the desired conclusions from the provided information MAIN

To inform • Remain as concise as possible. • Explain ideas in enough detail to make it understandable to your audience. • “Given to new” method – For each new piece of information tie it in to knowledge the audience already has. PURPOSE MAIN

To persuade • Try to remain, or appear to remain, as objective as possible. • Appeal to logic, not emotion. • Provide evidence for all arguments • Answer the question “Why? ” • “Why is this important? ”, “Why is this beneficial? ”, “Why is this a problem? ” PURPOSE MAIN

Audience • Just as you have a purpose in writing, your audience has a purpose in reading. • Your goal is to ensure that the ideas you have when writing are the same ideas that your audience has when reading. • Determine who your audience is so you can focus in on as small a group as possible. • The broader the audience, the larger the chance that the same information will be interpreted in different ways. MAIN

How to determine your audience • Do this by considering the following questions. • • • What is their area and level of education? What is their knowledge of your subject? What is their position? What is their demographic information? What is the relationship or status that exists between your audience and yourself? AUDIENCE MAIN

Style and diction • There are two fundamentals to increasing the probability that your audience will interpret your work as you intended. • Be clear. • Be concise. MAIN

Clarity • • • Avoid ambiguous pronoun reference. Avoid ambiguous modifiers. Break up long noun strings. Prefer the active voice When to use the passive voice Avoid nominalizations Maintain parallelism Use transition words Use intelligent repetition STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Avoid ambiguous pronoun reference Ambiguous Our terminal patients enjoy the warm days while they last. Clear While the warm days last, our terminal patients enjoy them. CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Avoid ambiguous modifiers Ambiguous Only press the red button in an emergency. Clear In an emergency, press the red button only. CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Break up long noun strings Complex Surplus production energy capacity price fluctuation control policies seem doomed to failure. Clear The policies for controlling price fluctuations caused by surplus production in energy capacity seem doomed to failure. CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Prefer the active voice • Active voice sentences clearly state who the actor is and what the actor is doing. Unclear The formula was discovered by the scientist. or The formula was discovered. Clear The scientist discovered the formula. CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

When to use the passive voice • When the actor is commonly known • When the actor is irrelevant • When telling what you did in a report or other document (excluding introduction and conclusion. ) • Say “The two wires were connected” not “I connected the two wires. ” • But still say “The second method produced better results” not “Better results were produced by the second method. ” CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Avoid nominalizations • Nominalizations are verbs that are turned into nouns. Ex. reduce Þ reduction Unclear The new system lead to a reduction in costs. Clear The new system reduced costs. CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Maintain parallelism • Parallelism is putting related ideas into the same form. Nonparallel Tungsten steel alloys are tough, ductile, and have a great deal of strength. Parallel Tungsten steel alloys are tough, ductile, and strong. CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Use transition words • Use transitions words to combine thoughts between sentences. • These words make the flow smoother and the transition less abrupt. • • • However Therefore Although Additionally Furthermore • Nevertheless • Likewise • Alternatively • Conversely • Consequently CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Use intelligent repetition • Don’t use different words to represent the same idea. Unclear Land deterioration is a major problem today. Many causes of such degradation exist. Clear Land deterioration is a major problem today. Many causes of such deterioration exist. CLARITY STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Concision • • • Eliminate redundancy Write positively Paragraph often Use reasonable sentence length Limit “to be” verbs Delete meaningless words Delete doubled words Delete redundant categories Reduce phrases to words STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Eliminate redundancy • Remove words that can be inferred from another. • Past history • Basic essentials • Completely finished • Mutual cooperation • Dead corpse • End result • The month of May • Utter devastation CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Write positively • It usually takes more words to convey the same idea in a negative form than in a positive form. Positive Write positively. Negative Do not write negatively. CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Paragraph often • Paragraph often to break up dense text. • A good rule of thumb is 60 -100 words for an average paragraph. CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Use reasonable sentence length • Keep sentences so that readers don’t have to remember too much information to understand the sentence. • Most sentences average 20 words. • If a sentence is exceeding 40 words, try to find a way to break it up into smaller sentences. CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Limit “to be” verbs • Limit the use of conjugations of the verb “to be. ” Wordy It was the second method that we used. Concise We used the second method. CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Delete meaningless words • Avoid words that do not add any meaning to a sentence. • • Basically Generally Kind of Actually The picture was kind of blurry. means the same as The picture was blurry. CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Delete doubled words • Do not use word pairs that mean the same thing. • Goals and objectives • First and foremost • Basic and fundamental • Hopes and desires • Each and every • Fully and completely • One and the same • Ways and means CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Delete redundant categories • Many words imply their category. • Don’t restate the category after such words. • Round in shape • Large in size • Blue in color • Heavy in weight • Sour in taste • Shiny in appearance • Smooth in texture • Honest in character CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Reduce phrases to words • Many phrases can be expressed in fewer words or even in a single word. • • • For this reason Þ so Due to the fact that Þ because At a much greater rate than Þ faster Despite the fact that Þ although A great deal of Þ much CONCISION STYLE & DICTION MAIN

Organization • One of the surest ways to confuse a reader is to have a poor organizational scheme. • Choose the organizational method based on the document being written and the information going into it. • The three most common methods are: • Chronological • Deductive • Inductive MAIN

Chronological • A chronological scheme organizes information based on the time of occurrence. • Chronological organization is usually used in describing processes or giving instructions. ORGANIZATION MAIN

Deductive • Deductive organization is also known as division. • Start with the larger ideas and break them down into smaller parts. • General Þ specific ORGANIZATION MAIN

Inductive • Inductive organization is also known as classification. • Start with the smaller ideas and build the larger ideas out of these smaller ones. • Specific Þ general ORGANIZATION MAIN

Available resources • The following resources are available for more information on any of the topics covered in this document, or just for general information on technical writing. • The resources are organized into the following categories: • • Books Web sites People Other MAIN

Books • • • Bly, R. , & Blake, G. (1982). Technical writing: structre, standards, and style. New York: Mc. Graw-Hill. Finkelstein, L, Jr. (2000). Pocket book of technical writing for engineers and scientists. New York: Mc. Graw-Hill. Jones, D. (2000). The technical communicator’s handbook. Needhem Heights, Ma: Allyn and Bacon. Pearsal, T. (2001). The elements of technical writing. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Vanalstyne, J. , & Tritt, M. (2002). Professional and technical writing strategies. Upper Saddel River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Williams, J. (1990). Style: toward clarity and grace. Chicago, IL: Scott, Foresman, and Company. AVAILABLE RESOURCES MAIN

Web sites • Karper, E. & Neyhart, D. Purdue online writing: labhttp: //owl. english. purdue. edu/ • The Writing Center at Rensselaer: http: //www. rpi. edu/dept/llc/writecenter/web/ • Mc. Murrey, D. Online technical writing: online textbook: http: //www. io. com/~hcexres/tcm 1603/acchtml/acct oc. html • Strunk, W. , Jr. The elements of style: http: //www. bartleby. com/141/index. html AVAILABLE RESOURCES MAIN

People • Odell, Lee. LL&C department, Sage 4302, odellc@rpi. edu • Swarts, Jason. LL&C department, Sage 2510, swartj@rpi. edu • Eaton, Angela, LL&C department, eatona@rpi. edu • Hart-Davidson, William, Lee. LL&C department, Sage 4402, hartdw@rpi. edu AVAILABLE RESOURCES MAIN

Other • The Writing Center at Rensselaer. Sage 4508. writingcenter@rpi. edu • Online writing help. AOL Instant Messenger screen name: instant writer • Technical and professional communications, WRIT-4120 AVAILABLE RESOURCES MAIN